Callie’s Journal
GM’s note: NOT FINALIZED
We’re all Blessed, at least as far as we can be in this awful place. We also have 7 temporary HP due to the incredible banquet. I really have to learn that spell.
Freki’s bird friends have spotted something. They dive down and…um…poof out of existence???
Oz faces off with Enoch. Aim away from the face, Oz! He stabs Enoch a lot and then runs away, drawing Enoch’s attention away from the building. It’s a run-by stabbing!
Bec casts Detect Magic on the building. It seems to be shielded with abjuration magic of some kind, similar to Bilbo’s house. Anyway, Bec is going to stay here in the tiny hut so we can stay protected.
Freki is frekied out by the disappearance of the birds, so he starts getting hairy and decides to jump through a window after them. CRASH! Subtle, wolfie. [Inside, Freki is deafened. He sees three Sophies. Two are looking menacing and battle-ready, and a third is hiding as well as she can. He tells her not to worry, we’re on her side. Unfortunately, if she says anything back, he can’t hear her. D’oh! The three of them start casting a spell and the broken window mends itself.]
I decide, in a split second, to take control of the flying carpet and hide it (sort of) behind one of the buildings in the square. I don’t want to draw attention to the building, which I’m guessing is where Sophie is hidden. And/or where Freki just died, hard to say. Look, I’m not saying that factored into my decision!
Enoch looks like he’s about to fly, but then teleports instead. Looks like Oz hit a nerve with that “your wings are shit” line. Enoch smacks him from behind and rakes him with a claw. Oz dodges and doesn’t take the full hit, but Enoch grapples him and tries to bite him. Oz wriggles away from the bite and Enoch stomps him with a fiery claw. Then he spins around and blasts Oz with a fire hand. That spin was really cool, but Oz didn’t have much trouble dodging it.
[Cal is aware that Enoch has a lot of resistances that normal undeads do not. He is also calm and may have many other hidden talents, but he also has the standard vampire weaknesses, like running water, sunlight, stakes, holy symbols, etc.).]
Cal focuses his ire on Enoch and runs toward him. The fire that Enoch summoned gets all sparkly and then Vondal appears out of the flames, behind Oz. The last thing Vondal remembers is the introduction to the hunt. Suddenly he’s in this ruined town square and the halflings are fighting a vampire. OK! He summons a giant horizontal wall of light. Enoch flinches and his wounds stop healing. Ooh, good one, Vondal!
Oz attacks again and Enoch still seems calm, although he’s bleeding now.
Bec elbows me aside – politely, as she does – and takes the carpet over to the building where we think Sophie is. We’re going to go in together.
Oz’s monkey flies into the light, briefly casting a shadow outside the wall of light. The shadow it casts…does not look like a monkey. It has no wings. It is halfling shaped, like the ghost Oz has described. Weird!
Freki leaps at Sophie to bite her, thus “drawing first blood” to win the hunt. He gives her a little nibble. She tastes like halfling, with a little bit of infernal hellfire contamination. He grapples her and tries to tell her that she should stop fighting because we’ve won according to the rules. She wriggles out of his grasp.
There’s a ringing and Orlok’s voice says that the hunt is over, as the condition has been met.
Sophie frowns at Freki and puts a hand on her wound. She almost looks like she understands, but then the sword takes control and she attacks Freki.
Bec and I run into the house. I want to use Calm Emotions, but as I reach for the spell, Avandra puts another, unknown spell in its place. I decide to have faith, faith, faith and cast the spell. Suddenly I’m where Sophie was and Freki is towering over me!
Hearing the announcement, Enoch says, “How unfortunate” and teleports away. I assume Cal and Oz are disappointed, but I’m happy that Enoch lived another day. I’m only telling you this, journal. Shh!
Oz and Cal enter the room and Oz is like, “Ladies, it’ll take me a while but I’m willing to try.” This may or may not be the reason Sophie is glaring murderously at us.
Bec uses a hypnotic gaze on Sophie and she goes kind of slack. Even though her hand is open, the sword doesn’t fall out of it. So creepy. Cal smacks the sword out of her hand with a remarkable well-aimed strike. There’s a weird tearing noise and Sophie seems to come back to herself. I try to tell her that we won, but she’s still focused on the windows, like, you’re welcome. Anyway, I can help the Sophielings with mending, but it takes a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Cal picks up the cursed sword with his whip and pauses an uncomfortably long time before throwing it into our portable hole. We should find a volcano to throw that thing in.
While we’re working on the window, we see the Gangrels coming around the corner. Then more vampires. Is this a casual stroll, or more like a Reservoir Dogs stroll?
Sophie hangs up some Tiamat symbols around the building. Oz tries some line on her and she’s like OUTTA MY WAY. He looks like he’s in love. Me too, maybe.
Freki asks why he was deafened. Sophie tells him that he triggered her defenses by coming in through the window instead of the door. The birds were apparently eaten by Tiamat, oh dear.
Elloia comes up to the door all, “Would you like to open the door?” Hmmm. I wish I could, but I don’t want to.
Sophie and Oz try to thieves cant at each other, but they don’t understand each other. Sophie calls us all over to the corner farthest from the vampires and we talk quietly. She says we need to track down the Death Tyrant and destroy it. She doesn’t know where it is, though. She strolls over to the window and tells the vampires that Vondal’s wall of light is going to vaporize them if they don’t tell her what she wants to know.
Enoch says they’ll tell us what we want to know when the light is gone. Vondal says sure and then shoots him with the wall of light. Enoch turns invisible somehow. He’s so cool. Vondal continues to strike at him in the same location. Enoch says, “You are a fool.” Vondal tries again, but Enoch is somewhere else now.
Oz uses his panache on Elloia and asks her what she knows about the Death Tyrant. She tells him that Enoch knows and probably would have told us if we hadn’t attacked him. Then she asks if he wants to be a vampire. She can totally hook him up. She’d also be happy to turn Freki, who would be “something special.” She isn’t interested in the rest of us. Mean! Anyway, she and Oz promise to meet again and then she takes her clan and leaves. Some down, a lot to go.
I keep feeling like I’m being watched. Is it Avandra…?
Oz, Cal, and Vondal run out and start slashing stuff. Eight of them surround Cal, three of them are grappling him. One is a statue thanks to Vondal.
I Channel Divinity to Turn Undead and a number of them drop Cal and make to flee. I summon my spiritual weapon and attack the most raggedy-looking one. It doesn’t die, boo.
Freki uses an arrow of tidal force against a vampire. A stream of water trails from it, rising to a tidal wave when it hits the vampire. Kelp rises out of the ground and ensnares them all! They are also vulnerable to the running water, because vampires. Heh heh. Freki still has two of those left, too!
After we’re done killing or chasing off all the vampires, Goratrix shows up. THAT’S THE CREEP WHO’S BEEN WATCHING ME! He slow claps and thanks us for doing his work for him. Oh, wonderful.